Daily London
The community heroes at the centre of a bizarre awards night bungle have today been named joint winners of South Australia’s Senior Australian of the Year award.
At last Friday’s awards ceremony, meteorologist Malcolm Benoy was initially declared as the sole winner, before it was corrected to James Currie, only for Benoy to later be confirmed as the recipient.
Authorities put the mix-up down to human error across two IT systems.
Now, Benoy and Currie have been named as the state’s first-ever joint Senior Australians of the Year.
“Having two winners in the same category demonstrates the strengths of South Australia’s nominees,” state Governor Frances Adamson said.
Benoy said he was concerned for Currie following Friday’s confusion.
“I came away from the podium and once I had my thoughts gathered the person I was really concerned about was James because he was the one who was called up and sat down,” he said.
“It was just unfortunate it happened in public.”
Currie, though, wasn’t fussed by the mix-up.
“Didn’t bother me at all,” he said.
“I come from the film industry, they even get the Academy Awards wrong!”
Benoy and Currie will now represent South Australia as finalists for the national award in Canberra.
“I just hope that the other states don’t think it’s South Australia ganging up on them by sending two instead of one,” Currie said.
The Australia Day Council has initiated a review to prevent similar errors in future events.
The council said its judging panel did select both men as the joint winners.
